[Nix-dev] Dealing with plug-ins

[Lluís Batlle]

2009/9/21 Ludovic Courtès <ludo at gnu.org>:
> I wonder how plug-ins are best handled given Nix’ model.
>
> NSS and OpenGL plug-ins are handled the same as what you’ve done here.
> But Firefox/IceCat plug-ins (for instance) are handled in such a way
> that the set of plug-ins is defined beforehand and assumed to be static.
>
> The latter sounds more “nixey” to me, in that it makes it easy to
> reproduce a configuration, but it is inflexible and defeats the dynamic
> nature of plug-ins.
>
> The former acknowledges the dynamic nature of plug-ins but also breaks
> referential transparency in the Nix model.  That is, ‘alsaLib’ can have
> run-time dependencies in addition to those specified in its Nix
> expression.  It could end up using binary-incompatible plug-ins, etc.
>
> Where should we draw the line between statically handled “plug-ins” and
> dynamic plug-ins?  Thoughts?

What about allowing both models? For example, for firefox, the nix
expression adds plugins, and user can get add-ons installed out of nix
control.
Let the user choose what's managed by nix and what not.